The App Guide: Apps for Healthier Living

If you are thinking about healthier living, look no further than your smartphone. There are apps that can help you eat healthier food, lose weight, exercise more often, sleep better and inject some peace into your hectic day. And because your phone goes everywhere with you, these apps help you stand a better chance of sticking to your healthier habits.

We’ve looked at hundreds of apps an, but this list will turn you on to the kinds of apps available to help you get started. Then, when New Year’s rolls around, you don’t have to resolve to get healthy — only to stay that way.

Healthy Living App No. 1: iTreadmill 

Helps you … Run better
With this app in your pocket, the world is your treadmill. ITreadmill is a jazzed-up pedometer that tracks your steps, distance, time, speed and calories burned — just like the treadmill at the gym. It also enables you to set goals for those criteria and receive alerts as you progress. The app features a music player that pulls in tunes from your iPod too.

Need something a little more goal-oriented? C25K (Couch to 5K) is a much-loved app based on the popular program that gradually takes you from couch potato to 5K runner in just nine weeks.
Available On:
IOS devices. For Android, search “pedometer” in the Android Market

Healthier Living App No. 2: Lose It!

Helps you … Eat right and slim down
Lose It! is designed to help you shed pounds by tracking your calorie intake and physical activity. The app also has a cloud component, so you can enter data, track progress and interact with friends on the website. No matter where you enter your data, it all syncs up.

Available On: IOS devices. For Android, try Calorie Counter

Healthier Living App No. 3: Nike Training Club

Helps you … Train with a pro
The free Nike Training Club features dozens of full-body workouts and drills in a slickly designed — and beautifully photographed — app. It includes workouts with celebs, celebrity trainers and pro athletes, as well as video demonstrations so you can check your form. You can select your fitness level, set goals, track progress and pull in your favorite workout tunes from your iPod.

Available On: IOS devices. For Android, try the highly popular Endomondo Sports Tracker

Healthier Living App No. 4: Wellness Tip of the Day 
Helps you … Get tricks to stay healthy

Getting and staying healthy isn’t just about hitting the gym and eating the right diet; it’s also about the little details, like drinking enough water, stretching and getting better sleep. Wellness Tip of the Day does exactly what the name implies, helping you keep those details top of mind.

Available On: IOS devices

Healthier Living App No. 5: Relax Melodies

Helps you … Meditate and rest
If getting more sleep is what you need the most to get healthier, Relax Melodies could help. If you have trouble clearing your mind to get to sleep — or perhaps want to introduce daily meditation into your life — this app provides several options. It gives you a set of ambient sounds, including the standards like rain, wooden flute and wind, and lets you mix them together to create your own custom relaxation sounds. You can pump up the flute volume, play a gentle wind quietly beneath the flute and add a light rainfall. Or go for something more abstract like a mix of zen, storm and cavern.

Available On: IOS devices. For Android, try Relax and Sleep